In his first week in the captain’s chair, the newly sworn-in mayor appears eager to encourage camaraderie and kumbaya at City Hall.
Dakota Smith from the LA Daily News and Gene Maddaus from the LA Weekly say the honeymoon period for the new mayor is in full effect. But City Hall watchers are just waiting for the first brouhaha — that’s journalist-speak for the inevitable clash between the two seats of power: Mayor Garcetti and the City Council he once presided over.
One of the first items on Mayor Garcetti’s agenda was opening his doors to his constituents. Some of whom had given money to his campaign. Yes, really.
Icky, perhaps, but our panelists believe it was a byproduct of how he advertised this said open-door policy: on his Facebook page, where a handful of political geeks spend much of their time. Of course the people on his Facebook page gave to his campaign, right?
Newly-re-elected Council President Herb Wesson gave an impassioned speech to City Council members earlier this week, as well, saying it’s his job to take the heat for for their deeds and misdeeds. The days could become ‘dark’, he said. But Wesson assured his colleagues that he would be there to guide the council through tough times.
Is that foreshadowing? Is Wesson a harbinger of doom? Or is he telling it like it is?
Our panel seems to think he could very well be a doomsday soothsayer.
There’s a new LAUSD board member: Richard Vladovic. He replaces Monica Garcia, who didn’t receive enough votes to keep her seat.
Garcia was an ally to former Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, which means the old guard may be disbanding at LAUSD HQ.
In our newly-minted ‘Mixer Elixir’ (a nugget of fun to wrap up the week in news), we chortled a bit about bitcoins.
Mayor Garcetti, in his inaugural speech, talked about “Silicon Beach” and giving Northern California’s Silicon Valley a run for its money. But he didn’t say the word money. He said bitcoin. Dakota, who was there, said approximately five people got the joke. Including her.
Garcetti told the gimlet-eyed audience to Google it.